Empyrean Iris

Chapter 43

Krill paced nervously, ringing his hands together. He didn't like this, he didn't like this, he didn't like this at all.

He didn't know what it was, perhaps just a feeling, or a sensation that made him uneasy.

Of course you could have argued that Krill always felt uneasy, but this time that was not the case..... this felt different. He tried to argue with himself, tried to convince his racing mind that there was no reason for his nervousness, but he still couldn't put it aside.

Perhaps it was his lead that was bothering him: information that he believed would help but no one would heed?

In frustration he broke off his pacing and stormed towards the door. He could do something about this now. With a little help from Rita and a little more research, maybe they could narrow down the field while the captain was out, use this time they had for something useful rather than sitting around and worrying.

Now to find Rita of course.

He headed up the hallway and down from his office towards the medical bay, if she was going to be anywhere, it was going to be there, otherwise he was going to have to search the entire ship.

He was just turning down the hallway towards the bridge – past the stairwell—when something caught him from the corner of his eyes. It was a set of blue scrubs leading downward and long dark hair.

Rita!

He turned and scuttled towards the stairs after her.

He would have called down, but, before he could, he was distracted by the sudden lateral buzzing of his antennae. It was a sensation he had not felt in a while, as none of the humans used Vrul radio frequencies to communicate, they had much longer range frequencies for that.

These ones were within maybe twenty feet.

For that reason he was surprised to hear Rita's voice.

"Heading down now."

Krill's antennae buzzed again as he scuttled down the stairs after her, not entirely sure who she would be talking to.

"The captain is gone, left for Anin."

Krill could have spoken up and called for her to stop, but something stayed his voice, and he simply followed after her, silent, inflating his helium sack to half full, allowing his footsteps to be completely silent over the ground.

They went down for a surprising ways, through the command deck and deep into the bowels of the ship, around maintenance and engineering.

Down here it was almost defining, but the radio signals continued to reach him loud and clear.

"Have you reached the engine room?"

"Almost." He heard her say, panting slightly at her track down so many stairs and into the darkness.

"Remember, place the device on the outside container of the fusion core housing and then turn it ninety degrees."

She paused and Krill pressed himself against the wall,

"The fusion core. Do you have any idea the kind of radiation that comes off of that thing?"

The voice crackled, "Negligible in small doses."

"To get right up to the containment unit it isn't."

"You will be fine."

Rita sighed, but continued, and Krill followed after growing confused and concerned by the second, not sure what was going on, and almost unable to understand what he was hearing. It sounded like..... well no, that didn't seem right.